Benchmark Counselling (He/Him)

Benchmark Counselling is run by me, Craig Wanless, an Edmonton-based Master Therapeutic Counsellor and Registered Counselling Supervisor with close to two decades of clinical experience. Beyond direct therapy, I have spent over a decade teaching counselling students at the college level and mentoring other therapists across Western Canada, which gives my practice a strong, grounded foundation. I work with individual adults, teenagers, couples, and entire family units. In terms of location, in-person appointments are held in central Edmonton—convenient if you’re coming in from St. Albert, Sherwood Park, or Spruce Grove. If you’re outside the capital region or simply prefer remote care, I provide secure virtual video and phone sessions across Alberta and British Columbia, as well as several other Canadian provinces. What brings people to Benchmark Counselling is typically the stuff that starts quietly and eventually wears you down. That includes chronic anxiety, worry, panic, feelings of depression, and heavy burnout. I frequently support clients navigating acute or developmental trauma, deep grief, difficult life transitions, low self-worth, and persistent self-sabotaging or addictive habits. For couples and families, the focus often centers on breaking communication impasses, repairing broken trust, and healing chronic conflict patterns. Rather than running a one-size-fits-all formula, Craig takes an experiential, integrative approach. A core framework he draws on is Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP), which helps you unpack difficult or "stuck" emotions safely in the room so you can actually process them rather than just intellectualize them. Alongside that, he weaves in attachment theory and family systems work to explore how your formative years and family dynamics shape how you show up in relationships today. When practical strategies are called for, he brings in elements of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), mindfulness, and somatic breathwork to help settle a revved-up nervous system. The philosophy behind Benchmark Counselling is distinctly human, conversational, and direct. Craig emphasizes a collaborative, anti-oppressive space where you don't have to put on a front or filter your experience. The goal is to give you both deep emotional clarity and concrete tools you can actually take home and apply between sessions. From a practical standpoint, sessions are offered as standard 50-minute blocks ($180) or extended 80-minute sessions ($240), which can be especially helpful for couples or complex family work. Direct billing is supported for several major Canadian private insurance providers—including Sun Life, Manulife, Green Shield, and Pacific Blue Cross—and a limited number of sliding-scale spaces are set aside for clients with financial barriers. If you want to get a feel for whether you click before booking a full hour, he offers a free 15-minute phone consultation. Reaching out for support can be hard but what we discovered is that it actually nurtured our inner world where we felt seen, and heard, and less alone, allowing us to build self-confidence through self-acceptance. We recognize that each individual brings their unique lived experience which is how come we tailor our approach to meet your goals and needs. We are intentional in our purpose to facilitate change and to support you to achieve healing. Our focus is to offer a space where we can build a trusting relationship that's open, accepting, where you feel supported. This is why we have been trained in many different approaches to counselling, and share the perspective that all clients have the ability to live healthy and fulfilling lives and sometimes need support to actualize their true potential. Everything we have experienced in our lives thus far has a greater purpose than what has been presented and we work closely with our clients to set new benchmarks, becoming their best selves. We help clients with addictions, depression, anxiety and life transitions, anger, grief and relationship conflicts. We have helped parents navigate difficult teens and teens navigate difficult parents and have helped all of them navigate their personal barriers to build a stronger, deeper understanding of themselves and each other.